Kiratin Miller, Berkeley Voice, December 11, 1997

Opt-out's Out, Street Sweeping's In: Council Ends Exceptions; Parking Tickets Sure to Follow

Did you remember to move the car today?

Street sweeping is back, for almost everyone. The City Council voted Dec. 2 to eliminate Opt-Out, the program that has allowed residents to "opt out" of street sweeping if 66 percent of their block successfully petitioned the city.

Over the next six months, the city will be phasing in a comprehensive street sweeping program to include all publicly maintained streets in Berkeley, "where feasible."

Public Works Department staff promised the new program will keep city streets cleaner and the Bay healthier. Opt-Out opponents added that it's simply reasonable to treat all streets equally.

However, activists in affected neighborhoods fear all they will see are more parking tickets. They doubt the new policy will actually bring equity to the system, or decrease environmental impact.

Voted down at the Oct. 2 meeting was a motion made by Councilmember Polly Armstrong requesting Council hold a public hearing on the matter.

"There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of people affected by this decision," Armstrong said. People who legitimately went through the process (of joining the Opt-Out program) and are now being subjected to this, don't know that it's about to be taken away from them."

Armstrong added that she believes the city needs to sweep the streets and make sure water runoff is clean. She insisted, however, that residents should be permitted to air their concerns at Council before changes are made.

Councilmember Dona Spring spoke to the environmental issues. "Copper and other heavy metals fall out of the car and go into the bay, killing the ecosystem," she said. "We should all bear in the responsibility for clean water and having a car."

A 1987 revision to the 1972 federal Clean Water Act identified urban runoff as a major cause of water pollution. Since then, street sweeping has evolved from a method of debris removal to a basic management practice for reducing urban run-off pollution in the Bay.

Yet, many Berkeleyans fear the sweeper. Residents are forced to get in their parked vehicles once a month and circle the neighborhood searching for a sometimes distant parking spot on the day the street sweeper comes to their block. Should they forget to move their car, they'll soon be greeted by a hefty green parking ticket.

Until now, blocks having opted out of the program have been exempt from that process.

Berkeley resident Malcolm Zaretsky said the decision to abandon Opt-Out doesn't make sense. Zarestsky's block is one of 82 currently off the street sweepers' list. "Everybody keeps the street clean in front of their house, regardless," he explained. "I just don't understand what the reason for this could be."

Over the next few months, Public Works staff will hold neighborhood meetings for Opt Out blocks and other streets to be reinstated under the new plan. Organizers said they expect residents' concerns to center on the inconvenience of moving parked cars on scheduled sweeping days, ticketing and enforcement, and the obtrusiveness of signs announcing the sweeping schedule.

Staff appear committed to the change, nonetheless. "We don't think it's unreasonable for people to move their cars once a month to keep the environment and the streets clean." Deputy Director of Public Works Patrick Keilch said.

Not all blocks currently in Opt-Out would necessarily be subjected to the sweeper, however, Kelich added. Streets that are too narrow or have other limitations, or that don't have nearby parking options, may be exempt. In addition Kelich said, the city is not ruling out future Opt-Out-style programs.

Even Opt-Out critics say they'd consider an alternative. "Let's make it a real program, not just a revenue enhancement program," said activist L A Wood, who has worked to educate his fellow Berkeleyans about public works and influence clean water policy for years. (Wood's new documentary video -- "Berkeley Public Works: Moving into the 21st Century" -- chronicles the history of the Public Works Department)

According to Wood, it's impossible for residents to remove particulates of dangerous metals that drop off cars onto the street, which eventually drain into the Bay, if not collected first. At the same time, he said, current city machines are not much better at retrieving these 'fines' (fine particulates). "They (city sweepers) manage the perception of cleaning the streets, not the reality," Wood said.

Also at issue is the question of equity in sweeping policy and procedure. "It turns out that there are vast areas of the city that we don't sweep that never opted out," said Armstrong. "For example, we don't sweep Bancroft, Channing, Durant, Haste, and Dwight. That's outrageous. It feels to me that our policy has been derived not from where we get the most benefit from sweeping, but from where it's the easiest to sweep."

City representatives said they can't sweep some streets because of heavy traffic and an abundance of parked cars.

It's difficult to say whether the new system will cost more or less than the old. If all current Opt-Out blocks return to regular street sweeping, the city will need to hire one full-time employee to operate another sweeper. For the remainder of the fiscal year (ending in June), the cost adds up to $26,008 for the sweeper operator and $11,000 for sign installation. The city already purchased an additional sweeper for $150,000 last year.